Who in their wildest dreams ever thought we would see a headline that says, “China Urges U.S. to Protect Creditors”? For those of us who grew up in an America that was the undisputed leader of the free world locked in the Herculean task of containing the godless hordes of the Communist East, an America that was the largest manufacturer, largest creditor, and the economic engine that drove the world’s economy until recently it was unimaginable. We watched as America fought wars around the edges of the creeping red menace. We worked to elect the leaders and pay the taxes that built a 600 ship navy, the best equipped armies in history, and the Space Based Initiative all of which eventually convinced even the Soviets that their centrally-planned monstrosity couldn’t compete as it collapsed of its own weight.

Yes, except for the pages of MAD magazine, Cracked, or Rolling Stone until recently such a headline would have been unimaginable. Today, after 23 years of Progressive leadership it has become the truth. Communist China is warning us to make provisions to pay our creditors in the face of a declining credit rating and an ever-growing debt. Have they ever heard of the GM bond holders?

If you’ve ever been to a TEA Party rally or if you grew up in America before it became politically incorrect to love our country you will remember these words, “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” This is our hallowed Pledge of Allegiance. It ends by announcing to the world our dedication to Justice.

In a world still run by kings, empires, and tyrannical despots as America rose to become a capitalist colossus of opportunity, we proclaimed that instead of the whims of the privileged riding rough shod over the rights of man we as a nation believed in an objective justice that wasn’t swayed by birth or purchased by fraud. For more than two hundred years this honorable standard was our goal. It wasn’t always perfectly applied, and it was sometimes cruelly circumvented by prejudice and avarice, but at least it was our goal. The statue of Lady Justice wears a blindfold so that she is not influenced by what can be seen and she holds the scales which weigh the truth.

Martin Luther King called us to be more than we had been and all that we can be when he said, our children “will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” That this call was not for something new but instead a fulfillment of our original design is shown in Dr. King’s plea that America, “live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.’” This was ever the goal: blind justice. This was ever the light which shone from the beacon in the hand of Lady Liberty: freedom to rise above our birth, liberty to rise to the level of our efforts, and justice for all.

Today the Progressives have shackled us to a creed of political correctness which for the first time in our history makes Americans fearful of the penalties for what they say, write, and think. The Progressive ideology of from each according to their abilities to each according to their need, their dedication to the end of American Exceptionalism through globalization, and their worship of the myth of man-made global warming has created a toxic atmosphere where justice has no blindfold and her scales are tipped by the corruption of political power, crony capitalism, and interest groups on steroids.

In the face of these assaults on who we are and what we can do the American people refuse to give up! In the face of the best government money can buy taxing us to penury and spending us to poverty the American people continue to produce, to work, and to hope. In a world where our Progressive leaders have raised stealing from Peter to pay Paul into a national policy the American people have refused to go quietly into that dark night. On the day taxes were due thousands upon thousands of dedicated Americans gathered in city parks, town squares, and fields to proclaim America is still the home of the brave and the land of the free.

This is the American way. We have faced adversity many times. We have stood up to be counted when kings and emperors sought to squash the freedom of man under the weight of their divine right pride. We have shouldered the burden when dictators sought to clamp their totalitarian yoke upon the neck of the world and we will stand before these self-inflated ideologues who seek to smother freedom under a centrally-planned economy and a regimented society. Other countries have shown that when you rob Peter to pay Paul eventually Peter changes his name to Paul and that in the face of a stacked deck they will pretend to work as the government pretends to pay.

In America today millions are rising up and saying, we will not have a nation drowning in debt and limited in power! We will not leave a broken dream to our children! We will work tirelessly to preserve truth, justice, and the American way. Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.

Dr. Robert R. Owens teaches history, political science, religion, and leadership for Southside Virginia Community College. Dr. Owens is the author of “America Won the Vietnam War,” “The Asuza Street Revival,” and called “The Constitution Failed.” He is available for speaking engagements.